QSL only via W3HNK.DXCC NEWSDXAC Staff Liaison, Dave Patton, NN1N, reports that the following operation is approved for DXCC credit:3XY5M - Guinea; 2015 Operation **E30FB - Eritrea; 2015 OperationC21EU - Nauru; 2015 Operation** PLEASE NOTE (Reminder): Michael, PA5M (3XY5M), will be out of Guinea for a short break in PA-land between April 8-15th. So, if you work 3XY5M in that period, it is a PIRATE. Michael suggests, "Always check ClubLog in case you have doubts." QSL cards will only be handled by Dennis, PA7FM. Read details on QRZ.com.DX0, SPRATLY ISLANDS (Update)After a 3 day delay, the DX0P DXpedition to Pagasa Island (AS-051) finally hit the airwaves on Friday. Operation was expected to last until April 20th, but who knows with the delay. Watch for updates on the below URLs. Activity will be on 160-10 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY and JT-65. QSL via WA6LOS. Log will be available on ClubLog. They have a FaceBook page at:

FR/J, JUAN DE NOVA (Press Release - 7th Most Wanted DXCC Entity). [Edited]Juan de Nova in 2016! --We are about to turn the page on FT4TA. We still have a number of presentations to make to share this experience with as many people as possible.
Logistics-wise, the equipment in our 3 crates is on its way. Upon delivery, we will clean, check and repackage everything. The various debriefings with TAAF services have all been extremely positive. Our work has been appreciated in all areas and by all our interlocutors: schools, philatelic enthusiasts, and of course our primary objective: ham operators.
Specific attention has been paid to present and explain our activity with the authorities, journalists and the general public. All these efforts on the side of the expedition were positively received and are obviously carriers for future activities.
The goals we set were achieved. The 71,000 contacts made it possible to pull Tromelin out of the Top 10 most wanted countries. In line with what we had announced, significant efforts were made to allow the radio amateurs of the most remote areas to work us.
Building on these positive results, we initiated a new project that has received the approval of the TAAF. We appreciate all the more the new token of confidence that 2015 is a very important year for all their services because of the celebrations for their 60th anniversary.
We are proud and happy to announce that our team was allowed to go on the island of Juan de Nova in March 2016.
The islands of Juan de Nova and Europa are one DXCC entity. Like other Scattered Islands, they have been on the air in the past mainly by the weather forecast staff as part of their professional duties. Since the automation of weather stations and the gradual disappearance of amateur radio in the military stationed on the Scattered Islands, no activity was carried out. The last DXpedition from this DXCC entity goes back to 2003, the year a military team made 34,000 contacts using the callsigns TO4E / TO4WW from Europa. As for Juan de Nova, one must go back to the 80s for the last true dx-pedition. Demand is very important, regardless of the band or mode.
Access to these islands is extremely limited and subject to prior approval of the TAAF. These territories are sensitive and protected areas. After a positive experience on Tromelin, the administration has renewed their confidence for us to lead this project. Protective mea- sures of the fauna and flora introduced on Tromelin will be continued so that our radio activity and protected animal species can live together harmoniously.The Project -- The exact conditions and dates still need to be tweaked, but the main lines are already defined and validated. After taking into account all the constraints and imperatives, a team of 10 people has been allowed for a period of 15 days.
Our experience on Tromelin allows us to see the things that we clearly can reproduce and areas for improvement, taking into account the specific characteristics of the site and the restrictions imposed. We will need to consider the environmental impact of our activity and ensure strict compliance of instructions.
Again, we will make every effort to allow a maximum of radio amateurs around the world to establish contact with Juan de Nova. Special attention will be given to the most difficult areas and to the low bands, especially underutilized in previous DXpeditions.
Like on Tromelin, we know that success can only be achieved by a small group with a very strong cohesion and shared past experiences. This group is already made. You'll find out soon on our website and the names/callsigns will be very familiar to you.Budget/Sponsoring -- During the period going from late 2015 to early 2016, many projects for some Top 10 DXCC countries have been announced. Let’s hope that all will be completed. This means that overall more funding will be needed in a short period of time.
The budget for this work is relatively large and greater than the one needed for FT4TA. Although some aspects are facilitated by the ability to dock with a boat, other constraints make things more complicated and therefore more expensive. Initial projections give an estimated budget of $ 130,000 from Mayotte. Despite our optimization efforts, some items of expenditure are incompressible.
To carry out this project, we ask the entire community to renew their confidence by giving us their support, mainly financial. Many clubs, foundations and associations were with us in 2014 to achieve FT4TA. We hope that these generous sponsors can renew their efforts with this new expedition.

"Juan de Nova 2016" is officially launched and now depends on the support of all. You can trust us to carry out this operation with all the seriousness and the necessary rigor.
How to Help? -- Our website http://www.juandenovadx.com was just launched.
Over the next 12 months, you will discover more about the ops, the preparation & our destination. You can also follow us on various social networks such as Twitter (@JuandeNovaDX ) and Facebook.
A page dedicated to Foundations / Clubs / Associations will be available. We will post the logos of our sponsors with links to their websites.
To allow all DXers ??and supporters to join the project, we also im- plemented a "Donation" button on our website. Donations of at least €25 will automatically get your QSL card direct.
We are at your disposal for further information.73, Seb, F5UFX, Team Leader for Juan de Nova 2016IOTA NEWSEU-031. Operators Raul/IC8ATA, Felice/IC8BMP, Paolo/IC8DAK, Enzo/IC8FGU, and Giannino/IC8FQU (all MDXC members), will be active as IQ8MD/P from Vivara Island (MIA NA-005, IIA C-005, IFF-331) on April 19th. QSL Manager for this activity is Raul/IC8ATA, direct or by the Bureau. The team will have 2 stations on the air on 40-10 meters.EU-032. Jean-Paul, F5BZK,and others will once again be active as TM1IO on Oleron Island (DIFM AT-025) from the Chassiron Lighthouse (ARLHS FRA-234, WLOTA 1369) between April 18-19th. QSL via F5BZK, direct or by the Bureau. Look for future operations in June, July and August. Visit his Web page at:

EU-124. (Cancelled) Members of Barry Amateur Radio Society (BARS) in South Wales, UK, who were expected to operate as GB4MBC from the historical Flatholm Island, between April 24-27th, to celebrate Marconi's birthday, had to cancel their operation due to circumstances beyond their control.OC-241. Ferdy, YC9MKF, will lead a group of YB9 and YC9 operators to activate several islands in the OC-241 group between April 21st May 20th. Some islands were mentioned - Rote, Semau, Kera, Ndana and Ndaho. Operators will be signing homecall/9 or homecall/p. QSL via operator's instructions.OC-249. Imam, YB4IR, will be active as YB4IR/8 from Wamar Island between April 22-26th. Activity will be on the HF bands using CW and SSB. QSL YB4IR/8 via his home callsign, direct, by the Bureau, LoTW or ClubLog's OQRS.OC-273. Din, YB8RW, will be active as YB8RW/P from Watubela Island between April 19-22nd. Activity will be on the HF bands using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via his home callsign, direct or the OQRS, no Bureau QSLs.OC-274. (New IOTA) Operators Imam/YB4IR and Din/YB8RW will be active as YB4IR/8 and YB8RW/P from Lucipara Island between April 27th and May 1st. Activity will be on the HF bands using CW and SSB. QSL YB4IR/8 via his home callsign, direct, by the Bureau, LoTW or ClubLog's OQRS. QSL YB8RW/P via his home callsign, direct or ClubLog's OQRS. NO Bureau.J7, DOMINICAAs of April 16th, Serge, F6AUS, has been active as J79AUS from Dominica and will be there until April 24th. Activity has been on 30/20/15 meters CW. QSL via his home callsign, direct or by the Bureau.KH5, PALMYRA ATOLL (Press Release #1, April 18th)[edited]Craig/K9CT) and Lou/N2TU are proud to announce a DXpedition to Palmyra Atoll. Palmyra (KH5) ranks in the top ten on the Most Wanted List and #2 in Europe.
After many months of negotiations with US Fish and Wildlife and The Nature Conservancy, the Palmyra Island DXpedition Group has been awarded permission to activate Cooper Island in the Palmyra Atoll during January 2016.
Craig is a veteran of many of the “Most Wanted” DXpeditions. He co-led Sint Maarten and Swains, and operated from Conway Reef, Midway, Cocos Island, Wake Atoll and Amsterdam Island. Lou was a member of the Swains Team and led the Wake Atoll Commemoration. Craig and Lou have just returned from the Navassa Island K1N DXpedition.
A team of 12 highly experienced operators and veterans of many DXpeditions has been formed. Team members include Craig/K9CT, Lou/N2TU, Jerry/WB9Z, Tom/ND2T, Mike/K9NW, Ralph/K0IR, John/K6MM, Bob/K4UEE, Hal/W8HC, Dick/W3OA, Jim/N9TK, and Glenn/W0GJ.
They plan to operate five stations over a 14 day period, 160 to 6 meters on all modes, using a callsign to be announced at a later date.
Critical to major DXpeditions are the immediate, up-front commitment costs. INDEXA and NCDXF have been most generous in their support of Palmyra 2016 and this support is sincerely appreciated.
Logistical support for this operation is being provided by Kimo/KH7U and Don/N1DG. Joe/W8GEX and Janet/W8CAA have volunteered to assist the team in fund raising. Their experience in this area is highly valued.
Our website,

developed by team member John, K6MM, will provide updates as they become available. The Donation page of the website is currently active. The group will also have an OQRS link on the website for easy QSLing.MJ, JERSEYKazunori, M0CFW/JK3GAD, will be active as MJ5Z during the CQ WPX CW Contest (May 30-31st) as a Single-Op/All-Band/Low-Power entry. QSL via LoTW or via M0CFW. Look for activity before and after the contest using the callsign MJ0CFW. QSL also "ok" via OQRS.OE, AUSTRIA (Special Event)Members of the "Wild Mountain DX Group" are proud to announce their first activation of OE5XWM/p which will take place between May 22-24th. Operators mentioned are Edwin/OE5POP (SSB), Alex/ OE1DXU (SSB), Peter/OE5PSO (SSB, PSK31), Erich/OE5EVM (CW) and David/ OE5DFL (technical support). Activity will be on 80-10 meters with some "power" at 1600m ASL from the Austrian Alps, using 2 double bazookas and vertical antennas. QSL via OE5POP, direct or by the Bureau. NO eQSLs.OZ150, DENMARKMembers of the Eksperimenterende Danske Radioamatører (EDR - Denmark's IARU Society) will activate OZ150ITU on May 17th, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The activity will take place from many different QTHs in Denmark and the different operators will get a unique secondary suffix to the callsign. The secondary suffix will be /xx where xx is a number between 10 and 99. Activity will be on 160m, 80m, 40m 20m, 15m and 10m bands using CW, SSB and Digital modes. You can achieve a special Award by contacting different OZ150ITU/xx operators and the rules are available at:

QSL via OZ0J. All QSOs will be registered with the callsign OZ150ITU (without /xx) in LoTW, eQSL and ClubLog. To get their paper QSL card, they prefer that you use the OQRS to order your QSL card instead of sending your paper QSL card to them. You can also request direct QSL via OQRS. The price is USDs 4.00 for a direct QSL card no matter how many QSOs you have worked with OZ150ITU. If you have any question do not hesitate to contact their EVENT Manager OZ1BII.PA05/PA125, THE NETHERLANDS (Special Event)Members of VERON section 54 will activate two the special event callsigns during the month of May. Look for the following:

PA05MILL - Activity during the Windmill on the Air weekend (May 8-10th). This is the 5th activation of Windmill “The Old Mill” from Oudemolen. A special QSL and award will be issued. For more information and award rules see QRZ.com.PA125VVG - Activity is to celebrate the Vincent van Gogh Year 2015 - 125 years Vincent van Gogh. Activation will be from Monday, May 11th, until Sunday, June 7th. A special QSL and award will be issued. For more information and award rules, see QRZ.com.

REALTIME BAND CONDITIONS WEB SITEhttp://www.bandconditions.com:The purpose of this experimental Web site is to provide 24-7-365 actual (REALTIME) band condition information to CW QRPp, QRPe and CW/SSB for Contesters interested in increasing their scores. It can also be of benefit to other Radio Amateurs to determine band conditions for Nets and casual QSO's. This information is NOT based on any software pre- dictions or any kind of satellite based readings. It is based on a new Ionospheric sounding method called "HF Ionospheric Interferometry" which operates very similarly to the PolSAR system used by NASA.PY, BRAZIL (Island Op - Not IOTA)Operator Junior/PY1JR and Junior/PY1WX will be active as PY1JR/p and PY1WX/p from Seca Island (WW Loc. GG87jd) between April 18-21st. This does not count for an IOTA, but does count for the Brazilian Islands Award - DIB: RJ-023 (new one). Activity will be on 80-2 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital modes (PSK, SSTV). QSL via their home callsigns, by the Bureau or direct.PY0F, FERNANDO DE NORONHALeo, PP1CZ, will once again be active as PY0F/PP1CZ from Fernando de Noronha (SA-003, DIB OC-01, WLOTA 1208, WWFF PYFF-016) between April 20-27th. Activity will be holiday style on 80-10 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital modes. QSL him direct, by the Bureau (Slow), LoTW or OQRS (pp1cz@terra.com.br). Check out the pictures of his 2013/2014 operations on QRZ.com.QSL INFO AND NEWS

U.S. POSTAL RATE INCREASE (Postponed!). Last week we wrote that on April 26th, there will be some new postal rates. Thanks to John, K9MM, who informed us that "On March 27th, the USPS announced they will delay the implementation of the 2015 rate increase and classification changes scheduled to start on Sunday, April 26th, 2015. USPS rates WILL NOT be changing on April 26, 2015." Here is a quick "corrected" summary of the proposed changes:

QSL RECEIVED VIA LoTW: CN3A, M0TMC, MW0ZZK, OM3CW, VP8DOZ, XW4XR and ZL7AAAQSLS RECEIVED VIA MAIL: 4K6FT (QSL Manager UA9AB 1989-90 ONLY), 9Q0DX, C98RF (AF-061), CE0Z/UA4WHX, EP6T, EY4AA (QSL Manager UA9AB 1989-92 ONLY), FT4TA, HH5/KC0W, PZ1DV, SU9VB, T30D, TX7G, UP2L, VK9DLX, ZD9ZS and ZS6RJQSLS RECEIVED VIA THE BUREAU: NONE REPORTED THIS WEEK!!!S7, SEYCHELLESPeter, DL2RPS, will be active as S79RPS from the Anse National Park (WFF S7FF-04) on Praslin Island (AF-024) between May 2-8th. Activity will be on 80-10 meters using CW and SSB, depending on conditions. His equipment is a IC-7000, w/100 watts into horizontal and vertical antennas. Log will be uploaded to ClubLog nightly. A photo QSL is planned. QSL via his home callsign, direct (seeQRZ.com), by the Bureau, eQSL or the OQRS on ClubLog.SILENT KEYTom, SP5UAF, announced on Tuesday that well-known DXer/ Traveler Mirek Rozbicki, SP5IXI, became a Silent Key as a result of a heart attack and brain aneurysm at the age of 56. Mirek activated many DXCC entities because of his numerous business trips and will be remembered for his operations such as VK6DXI, 7X0DX, 9V1XE, 9M8DX, 9N1DX, FK/VK6DXI, TF/SP5IXI and Z21DXI. He was also a member of big DXpeditions, such as FT5XO and ZL8R. Tom adds, "We have plans to prepare a new QSL card, to upload all logs to LoTW etc. Plans..." OPDX and its readers would like to send out our deepest sympathy to the family and friend of SP5IXI. He will be missed.T8 PALAUYasu, JH2DFJ, will once again be active as T88DF from Republic of Palau between April 27th and May 1st. Activity will be on the HF bands and 50 MHz to 135 MHz using CW, SSB, RTTY, SSTV, WSPR and JT65A. QSL via his home callsign, direct, by the Bureau, LoTW and eQSL.THE QUEST FOR ZONE 23 (By Scotty, WK3N, the man who never sleeps!)

"The CQ Zone 23 is the most sought after and most rare of all the CQ zones here in North America. It includes Mongolia, a small part of RUSSIA and China. After working BG9XD on 12 meters, I checked his bio to find he was in zone 23. I emailed him, Mr. Chenxing Yu , asking for the call- signs of Chinese zone 23 stations. He reported back and they are BG9XD, BG9MFY, BG9OF, BD9XE and BD0AAI. I know this will help those who have excepted this difficult challenge. Good Luck."

TM45, FRANCE (Special Event)Look for special event station TM45PAX to be active between May 5-19th. Activity is to celebrate the first instrument of surrender signed at Reims, France, at 02:41 Central European Time on May 7th, 1945. The signing took place in a red brick schoolhouse that served as the supreme headquarters allied expeditionary force. It was to take effect at 23:01 CET on May 8th. QSL via F5JYD, by the French REF Bureau or direct (SASE).TX5, CLIPPERTON ISLANDJim, F5JY, reports --After their Tahiti trip (FO/F6BFH) and Marquesas Islands stop (F0/F6BFH/P), Alan, F6BFH, and his XYL Danielle, are now on Clipperton Island. They are part of a scientific expedition team called "PASSION 2015", and are in charge of logistic assistance, life camp management, scientists assistance and professional telecommunications. Alan will make some researches about Mexican presence on the island at the beginning of the 20th century. Because of the unstable weather conditions and difficult landing conditions, the length of the operations are unknown. Alan will only operate during his spare time using the callsign TX5P. QSL via F6BFH, LoTW, OQRS, direct or by the Bureau (for Bureau QSLs, don't sent QSL -- just send QSO information by E-mail to f6bfh@f6bfh.net.
His equipment is: one Elecraft KX3 with 100 watts amplifier, one Yaesu FT897, a 10.1 MHz single dipole and a 20-10 meters multi-band dipole. Modes will be CW, SSB and some RTTY. Suggested frequencies are:CW - 7010, 10110, 14045, 18085, 21045, 24895 and 28045 kHzSSB - 7080, 14270, 18145, 21270, 24970 and 28470 kHzRTTY - 14100, 18100, 21100, 24910 and 28100 kHz
Jim, F5JY, also reported the following facts:

- Alan is always listening 5 kHz minimum above is transmit frequency (5-10 kHz split).- Alan doesn't have an InterNet access for his radio activities during this expedition, so no log online. Therefore, it's useless to use the DXCluster to request or send messages like 'Thanks for the QSO' or 'PSE CW', 'PSEe 18 MHz' etc....- When Alan is asking for a partial callsign, don't call if it is not your callsign or partial call. He never takes another station before having the selected station's complete callsign.

The 'PASSION 2015' is a scientist expedition, and Alan is there to pass daily traffic for the team, but has taken advantage to use Amateur Radio activities during his spare time. Please have an understanding about his work schedules and duration of his operation.V6, MICRONESIA (Reminder)Operators Sho, JA7HMZ, will once again be active as V63DX from Pohnpei Island (OC-010) between April 17-25th. Activity will be on 80-6 meters and all modes. QSL via his home callsign. No Bureau QSLs.VP8SGI/VP8STI PRESS RELEASE (News from the Intrepid-DX Group)If you missed OPDX.1110.1, Paul, N6PSE, reported that the Intrepid DX Group's VP8SGI/VP8STI team was pleased to announce their “Early Donor” program for donations prior to departure to the Islands. To see the press release, go to: